


Carry On My Wayward Thrall

by Pendles_is_friendles



Series: Alls the Thralls [5]
Category: Battleborn (Video Game)
Genre: But left in the collection for completeness sake and as the original work Mortus appears in., Gen, Original Character Death(s), brutal death of a good character, not canon to thralls for alls series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:11:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pendles_is_friendles/pseuds/Pendles_is_friendles
Summary: In an alternate universe and doomed timeline, Pendles has a run-in with a gang of mercenaries.  Taking matters into his hand and tentacle, he hunts down and slaughters the entire lot, including the Wayward Thrall, Mortus.





	Carry On My Wayward Thrall

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written as a response to an ask prompt and without much thought to who Mortus would become later. Like most of my OCs, he started out as a throwaway side character that later got developed. This story's outcome is not canon to the overall story arc established in the Alls The Thralls series, but it does contain elements that did end up canon.

Pendles swirled his drink in his tentacle, drunkenly mesmerized by the clinking of the ice against the glass and the effervescence of the bubbles. Drinking alone didn’t suit the Roa, but company would have only distracted him from his casework. The last member of the gang who had the audacity to capture Pendles had surfaced in this bar, and then disappeared into the crowded streets outside. To blend in, Pendles decided to have only one drink. But one became two and two became four.

As he heard someone behind him, Pendles turned his head to see a strange-looking fellow approach. He was dark eyed and all fangs and fins with an unusual looking protrusion sprouting from his head. Pendles caught himself staring at the glowing bulb before he realized that the stranger had made request: “I've heard you're the guy to talk to for some good stories about murder.”

A grin crossed the Roa’s face; he had started getting used to people recognizing him from his advertisements and from going on missions and excursions with the other Battleborn, so he didn’t question the request. “Of course, ‘ere take a seat,” Pendles offered, patting the stool next to him with his gloved hand. "Order whatever you'd like."

Pendles leaned over towards the stranger, casting furtive glances to ensure that no one else was overhearing. Holding his hand up alongside his mouth, he stage-whispered, “So, I didn’t tell you this and no one is to know, mate, but a part of me job includes interrogation, and the way I do it ain’t quite above board. See, we assassins are supposed to stick with just killin’ and intimidatin’. Keeps things clean and keeps the faction’s higher-ups off our back. But me? I find sometimes it’s just better to drag a few marks into a hole in the ground, break a few fingers and pull a few teeth to extract the location of the other marks. It’s quick, painless–well, at least for me– and a whole barrel of fun. It’s a chance to get real creative.”

Straightening his back and wavering a bit in his seat, Pendles picked up his drink and took a sip before continuing. “Recently, I managed to get m’self captured by a bunch of mercs who thought they could pull off bein’ a gang. Still fuzzy on how they managed to do it, as one minute I was ‘avin’ a drink and a chat with a flirtatious fellow, then the next I woke up a couple of days later blindfolded, muzzled and bound to a chair. Luckily for me, they made the mistake of tryin’ to take off me prosthetic” –Pendles held up his gloved hand– “lettin’ me rip it right off to let the ropes slide free and gettin’ me out of that chair. Unluckily for them, they didn't take any venom so I had plenty to wreck me vengeance.”

“So with me fangs drippin’ and rage flowin’ I scoured their base for me weapons till I found two blokes ‘avin’ a chat over who would get to keep me kit. I looked at me hand which I had stashed under me stump and I looked at the first guy and got struck with inspiration! I entered the room, me glove in me tentacle’s grasp and just whipped it right across the first bloke’s face. Teeth and blood went flyin’ as he went down like a soggy mattress and the other guy just sat there dumbstruck. He was just”-Pendles goes slack jawed and slumps forward. He holds the pose for a few seconds before he starts laughing and continuing.- “So I whip me hand back across and manage to strike his throat. He coughed and sputtered as I laughed and watched him fall to his knees.”

“Now, as much as I love a great wallop to the face, nothin’ quite compares to the song in me heart when I get slittin’ and slicin’ patzis with me kamas. Now that I was reunited with me beloved Helen and Aaron, I slaked our bloodthirst on those pathetic guards, but that was only the start. I had a whole base of victims just waitin' to lose their 'eads.”

“You shoulda’ seen me, with me miasma so thick and me victims’ blood splashed across me grinnin’ face, I must have looked like death herself comin’ to reap her harvest. I hunted down each and every single person in the compound. I swear I saw one guy’s eyes melt right out if his skull. And another, I swung Helen right down his throat and ripped his lungs right through his chest. Came out just like a pull-tab on a cardboard box. Cracked one guy’s skull squeezin’ ‘im with me tentacle. It was spectacular, with the corpses strewn about. But this isn’t the end, see with gangs, you’re not done gettin’ even till you off their leader, cuttin’ the head off the snake, so to say. And I as I said before, sometimes you got to drag a few marks into a hole to pull out the one you really want, and in this case a few meant two humans, one aviant and one brilliantly massive thrall named Mortus.”

“‘E was a thing of beauty. Wild-eyed, broad shouldered, mean-tempered, and his horns. Just gorgeous the way they curled over themselves. Capturin’ old Morty was one of the toughest gigs I’ve ever done, even ‘ad to call in another thrall friend to ‘elp drag ‘im into me office. Such a victim, I always say, requires a little somethin’ special, killin’s an art and you don’t waste a great canvas with some cheap paint, right?”

Pendles sighed, allowing his shoulders to slump. “But I am a busy Roa. Between me contracts, missions, friends, and now me mate, I simply don’t have the time or energy to be fussy with torturin’ folks. I needed to come up with something that I could set and forget, you know? So I was sittin’ there, rippin’ out feathers and hair before tossin’ ‘em into the acid bath–it smells horrid if you forget that step–bored out of me mind when I look over at Mortus and ‘ad an idea. What if I find a way to get old Morty to do the dirty work for me! But how? These guys still held on to some idea of loyalty to each other.”

“Well, it wasn’t until I had the fortuitous occasion of havin’ a botanist owe me a favor that I could solve this little loyalty problem. Devil’s Haze. Nasty stuff. Eat too much, you lose your lunch and whole stomach too before fallin’ over and convulsin' until you break your own neck. But a tiny dose? Shows you visions of your worst nightmares and the effects last for days. I had the bright idea to dose them all and let them sort themselves out. I could just sit back and watch the carnage!” Pendles exclaimed as he laughed, nearly falling off of his stool.

Pendles expression shifted to mock disappointment and he sighed dreamily, resting his head on his hand before he continued. “But, things don’t always work out they way you see ‘em in your head. While testin’ out the Devil’s Haze, I accidentally overdosed one of the humans, so I had to clean up that mess. Dragged the other two victims into Morty’s room and force fed them the smaller dose and waited till they started screamin’ and clawin’ at their skin before I woke up the thrall. I had to climb on top of Morty to reach his mouth to dose him and once I sprinkled a bit of Devil’s Haze onto his tongue and gave him a bit of a wake me up, he took full advantage of that and bit me shoulder and threw me right across the room.”

Pendles lifted his head and started to gesticulate along with the story, his voice increasing in volume. “Morty thrashed through the room like the animal possessed that he was and there was nothin’ I could do but watch as he gored his mate and ripped the other to shreds with his bare hands, bellowin’ and hollerin’. His destruction was beautiful, even if the blood frothin’ from his mouth was mine; but the show was quickly over as he decided it was goin’ to be better breakin' through the sheer rock of the cave wall to stomp and crash through the jungle in the middle of the night before me blood could work its magic on him.”

“I knew I had a few days before Morty would be clear-headed, if not just drop dead, so I went home to tend to me wound. Couldn’t risk an infection: Thrall mouths aren’t always clean, you know. Luckily, me seabuddy got me cleaned up and healed real quick and I was out in the jungle with mud soakin’ through me sneakers the very next evenin’. Just as I thought, trackin’ a gigantic, hissin’ mad thrall through the brush would be easier than pluckin’ the eyes out of a chokin’ human. Massive trees snapped like toothpicks, leaves ripped to shreds, animals and people’s mangled corpses littered his trail. Then I heard it: a rumblin’ of labored breathin’, I pulled back some of the underbrush and could see the great beast slumped over, blood trailin’ out of his eyes, nose and mouth, tryin’ to breath through flooded lungs. Bloody idiot killed himself when he bit me, and that wouldn’t do. Morty deserved a more fantastic death than this, and I ‘ad to think quickly before me venom could finish it’s work and I didn’t have me kit on me.” Pendles frowned and shrugged before taking another sip of his mostly melted drink.

“What I did have were a couple of smoke bombs and me two limbs. So I fiddled with one of me bombs to have more of a ‘boom’ and approached Mortus. Graspin’ one of his horns in me hand, I opened his foul mouth and shoved the bomb and me arm down his throat as far as it would go. It was absolutely disgustin’, all slimy and tight, but once I set off the bomb, I jerked me arm out and half of his throat went with it. Morty was surely dead before the bomb went off, sendin’ his guts flyin’ like a beached whale. It was glorious.” Pendles smiled proudly. “And since I only broke his jaw and not his skull, I got a real fancy new trophy out of the whole ordeal.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of a collection of fics circling a handful of OCs of mine. Most were previously posted on Tumblr, but are being edited, reworked and reposted here for your reading pleasure. There's a lot more where this came from.
> 
>  
> 
> ... I still feel bad for this being Mortus's original incarnation, even after reworking and retouching this a little to match the description to who he eventually became.
> 
> But, this fic establishes a few things that did end up becoming canon to his story:
> 
> -Pendles still captures Mortus as a result of being captured by his merc. team. 
> 
> -Mortus was a part of a gang of mercenaries in the Detritus Ring that got on Pendles' bad side early on.
> 
> -Mortus is big and fairly loyal to his friends.


End file.
